The Dore Family Blog: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Wonderful Visitors and a Special Trip

This past weekend we had wonderful house guests... The Crossett Family came to visit! We had such a blast with them and especially enjoyed our trip to Disney World! Braiden is still talking about it :-)
Braiden and Alanna

Entering The Magic Kingdom!

Bam Bam

Bam Bam, Betty, Wilma, and Pebbles :-)

The Flintstones hit Disney World :-)

Our crazy family all ready to celebrate Halloween at Disney (I made our costumes this year...hence why Barney looks a little homeless)

Braiden and Mommy riding Dumbo

Braiden enjoyed evry single ride he rode. When each one ended, he was already asking to go again!

In Winnie the Pooh's house

Probably Braiden's favorite ride... Buzz Light Year

It rained for a little while... Braiden enjoyed playing in the many puddles :-)

Minnie and Mickey

Can't wait for our next trip with BOTH of our boys!

Alanna giving Braiden some love :-)

At the end of a FABULOUS day!

Braiden and Alanna enjoying some water table fun... they didn't stay dry for long!

On Sunday, we took the kids to the fall festival in our neighborhood. They had animals, a horse drawn hay ride, and inflatable to name a few of Braiden's favorites.

Holding hands... Too cute!

Having a conversation

Mommy's and their babies

Braiden and Mommy with one of the horse that pulled our hay ride

Having a blast in the bounce house

Monday, October 24, 2011

A Beautiful Sunday

It was perfect weather! Chilly in the morning and perfect during the afternoon. Diana called to see if we wanted to head to the park. While we were there, we decided we wanted to do something fun with the kids. It just so happened it was our churches fall festival. So, after the park and some lunch, we headed that way. We all had a great time. As you can guess Braiden enjoyed the entire day of running, eating cotton candy, seeing clowns, and playing on inflatables.
My precious baby boy enjoying the weather

Sliding with Alysia

Shooting hoops with Diana and Isaiah

Braiden and some of the clowns

Getting his face painted

The kids :-)

Jumping in the moon bounce

This was Braiden's favorite part of the entire festival. A basketball inflatable. Absolutely impossible for him to make, but he was determined to shoot the ball!

This picture is what my days are filled with... many smiles and little rest and I love every minute of it!

Busy Bee's

What you ask has kept us so busy? We've been rearranging the entire house, or at least that's what it's felt like. I have not wanted to, but with the increase in trucks, balls, books, and stuff that a two year old little boy comes with our family room was more of a jungle gym than a family room. When friends came over there was no way for the adults to carry on a conversation in the family room or kitchen because of the volume of little voices along with the lovely toys that all make noise!
So, I broke down and we turned my beautiful sun room in the front of the house into a play room. It is so much more practical knowing that very soon our boy toys will multiply :-) The family room is back to a peaceful place to enjoy time on the couch, watch TV, and visit with friends. Braiden really seems to enjoy his new "special room" as he refers to it.
In doing this, we also had to rearrange the dining room to make space for the large shrunk that comes in three pieces. Two of which had to fit into the dining room along with two side tables. I wasn't sure how all of this was going to pan out, but I have to say I am very happy with it! The play room could still use some decorative touches, but it's good for the time being.

We also made the decision to make Gavin Michael's room the middle room of our house. That meant moving what was a guest bedroom to the back room, which was the one room in this house unfinished. I never got around to painting it. We decided to make the move when I was out running errands one day and saw a pretty comforter set that was marked down more than 1/2 of it's original price. It was the right size and colors that I liked. So, I bought the paint, got out the roller and got to work. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

As for the nursery... it was not easy finding bedding that I liked. I went back and forth between a few. It's hard being a person who doesn't like themes. Everything for boys has trucks, bugs, jungle animals, cars, or balls on it! Not me at all. I found a bedding that I liked and hoped it would work with the color of the room. Of course, that was wishful thinking and in the back of my head, I knew it wasn't going to go that smoothly. That's okay though. Yet again, paint was picked and the roller came out. I really do like the nursery. It still needs a few touches as two of the walls are completely bare, but I'll save that for another day.

For now, I'm just enjoying all of the "new" rooms in our house. I can't help but stand in the doorway and stare into the nursery thinking of how wonderful it will feel when there's a brand new, sweet smelling baby boy to fill it.

Looking at these makes me wish I would have taken before and after photos!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we headed to a local pumpkin patch. They're hard to find here in the south and typically they consider pumpkins and hay in a church parking lot a pumpkin patch... far cry from what I'm used to up north! However, the place we went to was cute and Braiden had an absolute blast! Between the hayride, animals, live music, hay stacks to climb on, and puddles of mud, Braiden was in his glory.
My baby on a tractor